Chapter 9 Aiden
NINE
AIDEN
The elevator door slid open and I turned to my brothers.
“Just leave the bags here,” I instructed.
“Why can’t we come in?” Kyran whined. “You can’t just use us as your bag boys.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can visit some other time.”
“Let’s go, Kyran. He’s trying to impress his wife,” my brother grumbled. “Besides, what are we going to do? I have no desire to watch Raven open this crap. It was bad enough having to endure this shopping trip with you two.”
“I want to know if this makes her like him,” Kyran protested. “Women are weird. But I’d prefer learning from him before making the same stupid mistakes.”
“Happy to be your guinea pig, asshole,” I retorted wryly. “I’ll let you know whether she’s happy with my choices. Now get the fuck out.”
“Fine, we’re going.” They dropped the bags with a thump and headed back into the waiting elevator.
The moment they were gone, Raven appeared in the foyer, still wearing my T-shirt and boxers.
“Ah good, you’re back.” Her hands came to her hips while she eyed the numerous bags from Cartier, Jimmy Choo, and a few high-end department stores that my sister, Margaret, recommended. “I need to talk to you.”
“Then let’s talk.” I slid my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “Do you want to do it while you’re opening these or…”
Her lips parted.
“They’re for me?” I nodded. “All of it?”
“Yes,” I said, letting my gaze travel over her. “I’m all for you wearing my clothes, but it’ll get old real fast and you cannot walk around like that.”
I didn’t even get to finish the statement before Raven was on her knees, digging through tissue paper like a five-year-old on Christmas morning.
“You’re more excited about clothes than the diamond on your finger.” I couldn’t help but smile. “I thought women liked jewelry. Diamonds especially.”
She paused her riffling, lifting her head from the Cartier bag.
“I like jewelry, but prefer it not to be the kind with such heavy symbolism.”
“I don’t blame you,” I said slowly. “But as you well know, marriages in our world are for life. So you might want to warm to the idea.”
I’d come to the conclusion that the information I’d obtained from her background check hadn’t prepared me for this woman at all.
“Not sure what world yours is, but divorce in this day and age is normal in mine,” she muttered as a shadow passed her expression.
Then she returned to rummaging through the bags while I pondered her words.
Something still wasn’t sitting well with all the information my contact had been able to obtain, which was why I got in touch late last night and demanded he go a step further. I needed to learn everything, starting with why she and her mother seemed to be constantly on the move.
The initial report indicated they’d lived in the States since Raven’s birth and had never set foot in Scotland, which couldn’t possibly be right.
Although Duncan Lyons was a ruthless and crazy bastard, it seemed unlikely that he would allow his wife to leave him and raise his daughter so far away from him.
Yeah, something was definitely off, but before we approached the Scottish mobster, we needed to know everything.
As she covered the foyer with wrapping paper and tags, and receipts, distracted with her new wardrobe, I started collecting them and took them into her bedroom.
After she’d changed into Victoria’s Secret shorts and a T-shirt that read Bite me, which had to be courtesy of Kyran, we settled on the linen couch.
She was curled in a ball on the other end of the sofa, apparently exhausted from all the excitement. There was enough space between us to accommodate ten people, almost as if she couldn’t stand my nearness, and for some reason, it irked me.
It made no fucking sense, because I didn’t particularly want her close either. This marriage had been shoved down my throat as much as it had hers, and while admittedly the kiss last night was more pleasant than it should have been, it didn’t change the fact that I wouldn’t fuck her.
However, if she repeated her exercise of stalking me while in the shower, I could easily succumb to ignoring my resolution.
I leaned back against the cushions, studying her. “Raven, we should establish some rules.”
She raised her head, curiosity filling her expression. “Kind of late for that, don’t you think?”
“Never too late for rules, wife.”
“If you say so.” She scoffed, locking eyes with me. “Okay, let’s hear them.”
“No more playing Peeping Tom,” I started. “Otherwise, I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
Her cheeks turned red, but to her credit, she didn’t look away.
“Maybe voyeurism is my kink,” she said casually, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Do you usually take showers at the same time every day?”
I couldn’t help but grin. She was clearly asking for trouble, not realizing she’d get more than she bargained for with me.
“Raven, we already discussed how this marriage will go. There’s no reason to rush, and your spying—”
“I thought you married me to keep me quiet and to give you an heir.”
I let out a low chuckle. “All in due time, but take this as a warning. Your curiosity could cost you.”
“Well, if you knew I was spying on you, why didn’t you stop your… activity.” She tilted her chin in challenge, her eyes steady. “You must not have minded my curiosity, otherwise you would have stopped.”
“Oh, I minded.” I minded very much that I couldn’t drag her into the shower with me, but I wouldn’t admit that. For now, we had agreed to get to know each other. And then there was the fact that she was a virgin.
She smirked, but her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. “Maybe I was taking notes on how to pleasure a man.”
“Leave note-taking for another year or two,” I instructed, and I certainly hoped she’d heed the warning. For both of our sakes. “You’re out of your league, Raven.”
“Funny, I thought the same thing when you demanded I marry you.”
I shook my head. “Your wild tongue will be the death of me.”
“One can only hope.” She flashed me an innocent smile. “Although, I would think you’d love a woman with a wild tongue.”
God help me. The minx would be the death of me before I even bed her.
“I don’t want to discourage your interest in me,” I said slowly, barely keeping my wits about me, “but playing with fire won’t be good for either one of us.”
She shrugged, then let out an exasperated breath. “Fine, no more watching you jerk off.”
My idiotic dick thickened with images I was quick to push out of my mind. My young, virgin wife couldn’t handle the kind of sex I liked, and if she got a glimpse of what I was into, she’d probably jump out of one of the windows of our penthouse. Ours, not mine. That was fucked up, wasn’t it?
Raven gazed out at the city below, oblivious to my intrusive thoughts. It was almost as if she were separating herself from this world. I wanted to know how she was feeling, what she was thinking, and fuck if that didn’t mess with my head.
I’d never wanted to be married, especially to someone who, as far as we’d been able to find out, lived her life outside of any criminal enterprise.
Growing up as an heir to the Callahan mafia had jaded me.
I’d seen and done plenty of questionable things.
The torturing of the mayor was one of the more vanilla things I was guilty of.
In fact, I couldn’t remember a time when life wasn’t brimming with blood and death.
So what the fuck was I supposed to do with my young wife now? My dick took over while my mind flashed images through my mind of her on my bed, her face down and her ass up as she fisted the sheets and begged me to fuck her.
Dammit, these stupid ideas and this foreign, visceral need to fuck her would make living with Raven difficult, if not impossible.
“You’re staring.”
Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I noticed she was watching me. Wonderful. At this rate she could murder me and I wouldn’t even see it coming, because I was too busy picturing her ass up on my bed.
“Maybe I can’t help myself because you’re so beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes. “More like you want something. Just ask, Aiden.”
I liked her bluntness. I liked the way she said my name even more. Fuck, this would be so much easier if I didn’t like her at all.
“What makes you think I don’t already know all there is to know?” I countered.
“Then why are you staring like you want something?”
I sat up, the couch creasing beneath my ass as I angled to face her. Although we were far apart, it was enough to make her flush, and a sick part of me liked that. I enjoyed the way she responded, and I was desperate to break through her walls.
“Where is your father?” I questioned.
She winced but quickly schooled her face, her features doll-like once more. “Not in the picture. Probably dead.”
My brow wrinkled in confusion. “Probably?”
She shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”
I waited for her to explain, and when she didn’t, I continued to prod. “What makes you think he’s dead?”
“Maybe it’s wishful thinking.” Her eyes locked with mine, and she pinned me with a look of defiance that had me shifting again, tension pulling at my groin. What was it with this woman who had me behaving totally out of character? “He destroyed my mother, so I hope he died in the most painful way.”
Her shoulders hunched like she regretted saying all that, but I wasn’t going to chide her for being honest. After all, sometimes I wished the same for my own mother, who had a tendency to make everyone around her miserable.
“Sounds like he deserves that,” I said, purposely sticking to present tense, but judging by her blank expression, she didn’t pick up on it. My instincts flared further. What was this Scottish mafia princess’s story?
“He should be brought back to life and then die a painful death every single day. Like the Titan Prometheus.” I raised my eyebrow in surprise while she continued.
“In Greek mythology, he was punished by Zeus and chained to a rock, where an eagle would eat his liver each day. Since he was immortal, his liver regenerated overnight, only to be eaten the next day in an endless cycle.”
“If I remember correctly, he was eventually freed by Heracles.”
She shrugged. “In my version, there’d be no Heracles for the man who happens to be my biological father.”
“Bloodthirsty one, aren’t you?”
She blinked, then replied slowly, “Not particularly, but I do believe in karma.”
“Then let’s make a deal.” Her eyebrows rose in interest. “Anyone who wrongs you, I’ll deliver your karma.”
That had her eyes widening. “Really?”
“Cross my heart and all that.” Shit, did her generation still say stuff like that?
“And what if that someone is you?” she questioned, squinting at me.
“Then you tell me and I’ll make sure to correct my ways,” I retorted. “Like I said, Raven, our marriage is for life, and I want to make the best of this. For both our sakes.”
“You truly believe there are good marriages?”
Jesus, she had it worse than me. I wondered if Raven had ever even stood a chance at a healthy relationship or if she’d been doomed from the start.
“Yeah. Ours will be.”
She shot me a half-smile.
“You promise?” she asked shyly.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, even if I have to make you a widow.”
Strangely, I meant it too.